Simon Reeves asks:

> Has anyone read Freedman's 'Understanding the Fundamentals of Classical
> Music'?  (Am considering it for my university age nephew.) Alternatively,
> I'd be grateful for any insight into quality books on understanding
> classical music.

Does your nephew read music?  These books generally either go heavy on the
musical examples or avoid them.

If he reads music and he listens to classical music already, you can't
go wrong with Tovey's Essays in Musical Analysis, in my opinion.  This
is the gold standard of explaining what goes on in specific masterpieces,
not least because it's so clearly written.

If he doesn't read music, I'd recommend Copland's What to Listen For
in Music, Louis Biancolli and Deems Taylor's The Concert Companion,
Bernstein's Joy of Music, and Kamien's Music: An Appreciation.

Steve Schwartz

             ***********************************************
The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R)
list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability
Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery.  For more information,
go to:  http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html